When planning a summer visit to Northern New Mexico, be sure to check out Santa Fe’s roster of art and culture festivals. The summer months bring a wide variety of festivals and activities to Santa Fe. If you want to experience the true flavor of this historic and colorful city, we recommend including one of these outstanding festivals with your visit:

International Folk Art Market | Santa Fe, July 13-15

Santa Fe’s art markets are a unique opportunity to meet and mingle with artists and fellow art lovers beyond the city’s famed galleries and museums. This event is the world’s largest exhibition and sale by master folk artists, with close to 200 different artists from 53 countries. The festival offers a chance to view and purchase unique folk art from around the world while you enjoy international food, live music and art demonstrations. Artists earn an estimated $25 million at the market, which helps support their craft and communities. The International Folk Art Alliance produces the event and has expanded over the years to support artists and their communities around the world. The Alliance partners with local and international organizations, including UNESCO and the World Craft Council.

The 67th Annual Traditional Spanish Market, July 28-29

Each year in late July, Santa Fe welcomes hundreds of artists from New Mexico and Colorado to celebrate their unique work. Santa Fe’s annual Spanish Market is a celebration of Spanish Colonial artists who use traditional practices to create stunning woodwork, tinwork, straw appliqué and ironwork as well as pottery, jewelry, painting and hand-crafted furniture. Many of these artisanal styles date back 400 years. The Spanish Colonial Arts Society sponsors this event each year as a celebration of Santa Fe’s unique colonial history with its Spanish and Catholic influences. Enjoy live music and performances in Santa Fe’s historic plaza and a special Market Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. Food vendors will serve up international flavors, and the event offers art demonstrations and historical talks as well. Don’t miss the Friday night preview at Museo Cultural to view the best of the best and meet with artists before the sale starts Saturday and Sunday.

Santa Fe Indian Market, August 18-19

This celebration of Native arts attracts art collectors from all over the world. That’s not a surprise, considering this is the largest and oldest juried Native American art showcase in the world. The event features 900 artists from more than 200 tribes in the U.S. and Canada. The Indian Market originated as part of Fiesta de Santa Fe but has expanded into its own festival. The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA), a non-profit organization that promotes Native art and artists, arranges the event every year and the market continues to grow. Market-goers can meet artists and experience contemporary Native art and culture first-hand. You’ll find pottery, painting, sculpture, jewelry, basketry, textile weaving, beadwork and other contemporary and traditional art. The art market takes place on Santa Fe’s historic plaza and adjacent streets, where artists set up their wares and sell directly to the public.

Fiesta de Santa Fe, September 1-10

Founded in 1609, Santa Fe is older than the United States—in fact, it’s the oldest capital city in the country. Fiesta de Santa Fe is the city’s annual celebration of that history and the region’s many influences, including Native, Spanish, Mexican and Anglo cultures. This colorful celebration centers around a re-enactment of General Don Diego de Vargas’s peaceful re-conquest of the capital city in 1692. It features a parade for kids and a mix of religious celebrations, art, music, food and cultural events. One of the Fiesta’s most famous activities is the burning of “Zozobra” or “Old Man Gloom,” a 50-foot marionette that symbolizes the hardships and despair of the previous year. This annual celebration has been going on for no less than 300 years. Each year it’s produced by the hard work of the all-volunteer Santa Fe Fiesta Council with support from local businesses and civic organizations.

To get a true feel for the history and culture of Northern New Mexico, we highly recommend including a visit to one of Santa Fe’s colorful festivals on your trip to Inn on the Alameda.

To learn more about Santa Fe, or for help planning your trip to Santa Fe, visit our website.

Come join us for Thanksgiving at Inn on the Alameda! This savory feast includes your choice of delicious traditional favorites, including perfectly-roasted turkey with gravy, golden whipped potatoes and other side dishes, as well as assorted holiday pies.

We highly recommend exploring Santa Fe’s art museums while you are here, particularly the work of artists who lived and worked here. One such artist, Gustave Baumann, lived in Santa Fe for more than 50 years and became widely known and appreciated for his work in color woodblock prints.

Hundreds of years ago, the Anasazi, also known as the Ancestral Pueblo people, carved their homes from the volcanic turf at the sides of the cliffs in the Jemez Mountains. Today, visitors can explore this complex of cliff dwellings, called the Bandelier National Monument.

The 50-square-mile monument offers a glimpse inside the lives of the Anasazi, including their farming and eating habits. Their diets consisted of corn, beans, squash, and native plants, along with deer, rabbit, and squirrel meat. The Anasazi also had domesticated turkeys.

Along with the actual pueblo homes, visitors can see cave paintings and petrogylphs created by the Anasazi. There are miles of hiking trails, and the area is home to abundant wildlife. While you’re there, you may spot one of the black bears or mountain lions that inhabit the national monument area.

The visitor center at the Bandelier National Monument features a museum with exhibits about the Anasazi, including pottery, tools, and other items of daily life. Other exhibits include dioramas demonstrating how the Anasazi lived, artwork, a 10-minute film, and more.

The roads winding through the Jemez Mountains, just northwest of Santa Fe, are filled with history. Along with the Bandelier National Monument, the area is home to a volcanic crater and the birthplace of the atom bomb. You can see it all in a day’s trip from Santa Fe.

Ready to take a trip back in time? Let us help plan your next adventure!

When was the last time you went on a field trip? We bet it’s been a while.

Santa Fe’s School for Advanced Research offers seasonal field trips for adventurers and knowledge-seekers of all ages. Local archaeological experts are hosting a field trip to El Morro and Zuni Pueblo for a two-day, overnight exploration the weekend of October 20th-21st.

El Morro, or “The Heartland,” is 200-foot bluff where Ancestral Puebloans lived long before Europeans arrived, and carved petroglyphs into the soft walls. Starting in the late 1500s, Spaniards and then Americans carved their names, dates, and messages into the walls as they passed through the area. The El Morro National Monument protects more than 2,000 of these inscriptions and petroglyphs, along with Ancestral Puebloan ruins.

At Zuni Pueblo, you will learn more about the Zuni’s unique fetish carvings and inlay silverwork. You’ll tour the exhibits at the Ashiwi Awan Museum and Heritage Center, and head to the Middle Village for a walking tour through the cultural heart of the Zuni people. The trip extends to Hawikkuh, one of the fabled Cities of Gold, where Zuni ancestors have lived since 1200 AD. It is the first place of documented Southwest history.

Don’t miss this intimate look at New Mexico history and culture guided by experts in the history of the Southwest. Let us be your home base in Santa Fe. Schedule your stay now.

For nearly two decades, the five-day Santa Fe Film Festival has celebrated the best in cinematic arts, both locally and globally.

The 17th annual event is a must-do for film buffs, art enthusiasts, and anyone who appreciates a unique cultural experience. The program features more than 80 films, panels, juried awards, workshops, and parties to celebrate Santa Fe’s rich heritage in film.

Festival attendees can mingle with filmmakers from all over the world and enjoy screenings of some highly artistic and intriguing films that have been delicately curated by festival organizers.

The 2017 Santa Fe Film Festival is December 6-10, and features narrative and documentary films, shorts of all kinds, and tributes to world-renowned film artists and industry professionals. There is also a special spotlight on New Mexican filmmakers and film crews.

Don’t miss Santa Fe’s leading exhibition and educational gateway into all things cinematic in New Mexico. Come visit and watch!

Spending a morning strolling downtown Santa Fe and exploring galleries and shops can really work up an appetite. For the perfect midday nosh, stop by Palacio Café.

From enchilada plates to tacos, smothered burritos, and burgers, Palacio Café makes choosing what’s for lunch pretty tough. No matter what you decide, you won’t be disappointed. And, the big portions will leave you so stuffed, you’ll have to head back to the hotel for a quick nap.

On the lighter side, there’s a large sandwich menu with many panini and cold sandwich options, including the popular piled-high Palacio Club. Or, you can choose a bowl of pozole or one of the featured salads. Plus, there are plenty of vegetarian options.

If you get there before 11 a.m., you can savor one of the café’s breakfast items. Think: breakfast burritos, tacos, omelets, and more.

The cozy Palacio Café is also a great stop for an afternoon espresso or fresh-squeezed lemonade break. Grab a sidewalk table for great people watching and take in the neighborhood.

Chocoholics will find a little slice of heaven right in the heart of Santa Fe, with a truly unique chocolate experience at Kakawa.

Kakawa Chocolate House specializes in historic and authentic drinking chocolate elixirs based on recipes from ancient Mesoamerica, medieval Europe, and colonial America. Served in small hand-painted blue and white Mexican mugs, the flavorful chocolate is barely sweetened, fragrant, and spiced to meet a wide variety of tastes.

Along with the rich chocolate elixirs, Kakawa makes many one-of-a-kind chocolate creations, all made in small batches. Truffles, agave caramels, chili-flavored chocolates, mendiants, chocolate bars, and homemade ice cream are just some of the delicious creations made by Kakawa’s artisans.

Kick up your chocolate habit with the Chile D’arbols, whole roasted New Mexico Arbol chilis dipped in agave caramel and covered with house-blended dark chocolate. Or sip on one of Kakawa’s enticing elixirs. It’s a chocolate oasis in the city, with a bit of culinary history for you to experience.